Inflammation and coagulation markers in patients with soft tissue bleeding and severe COVID-19

Objective: to evaluate some inflammation and coagulation markers to be used as soft tissue bleeding predictors in patients with severe COVID-19. Material and methods. A retrospective analysis of the case histories of 24 patients with severe COVID-19 was carried out. Inflammation (procalcitonin, ferritin interleukin-6 and C-reactive protein) and coagulation (international normalized ratio, activated partial thromboplastin time, prothrombin time, fibrinogen and D-dimer) laboratory markers were studied. Results. The baseline median of procalcitonin in the died patients was 2 times higher than in the survived patients (0.4 and 0.2 ng/mL respectively). In the group of deceased patients, there was a significant increase in the values of this indicator (from 0.4 to 1.5 ng/ml), in contrast to its decrease in the group of surviving patients (from 0.2 to 0.1 ng/ml). Similar dynamics were observed with respect to other inflammation markers: ferritin, IL-6 and CRP (survived/died subjects [baseline/last measurement]: 663/1020 vs. 550/520 mg/M; 578/393 vs. 263/1000 pg/mL; 25/14 vs. 68/82 mg/L, respectively). Conclusion. The increase in the levels of the markers of inflammation studied by us is associated with an increased risk of bleeding into soft tissues, while indicators of coagulation homeostasis cannot be reliable predictors of the occurrence of bleeding into soft tissues.